"The great thing about Le'Veon, if there's a guy in front of him and he's running along the sideline, he's going to run through that guy instead of just going out of bounds.''

There figures to be a lot of defenders in front of Bell in less than two weeks, when Michigan State (6-6) takes on TCU (7-5) at 10:15 p.m. on Dec. 29 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

"Coach D is a man of few words, so he's to just going to throw stuff like that out there,'' Rush said. "Le'Veon is an incredible back. It's hard to take down a guy that is that big and that fast.''

Bell led the Big Ten in rushing with 1,648 yards, and he led the nation with 824 yards rushing after contact.

Rush can still remember when he became a believer.

"I knew it my first camp, and I had contain and he kept getting outside of me,'' said Rush, who earned FWAA Freshman All-American honors in 2011. "I went in for a tackle on him, and before I knew it, I was on the ground.

"I had to go in after practice to watch the film to figure out what happened,'' he said. "It was that stiff arm of his; he hits you with it, and you find yourself on the ground and you don't even know what happened.''

Bell has said he has not yet decided what his immediate future holds. He has until Jan. 15 to declare himself eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Michigan State held its third bowl practice on Saturday, and will take Sunday off before resuming practices on Monday.